LHC offers PTI specific venue for Azadi March

Lahore- Full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) hearing the petition against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s Azadi March offered them a specific venue to sit in for 10 days.

Attorney General said that the country was in a state of war, Azadi March is bound to put country’s peace at stake and it also breaches the basic human rights. He further stated that Imran Khan neither agrees to the Supreme Court nor the Election Commission. Imran Khan has also declined Prime Minister’s offer of establishing a judicial commission.

The court demanded the recordings of Imran Khan’s press conference after PM Nawaz Sharif’s address to see what has the PM offered and why has Imran Khan turned it down.

PTI’s lawyer, Ahmad Awais, said that Imran Khan held so many gatherings in the past but never had a single incident of mischief been reported. Awais stated his apprehension that a number of such commissions had been established before but nothing had ever been the outcome. To which the court assured that this commission would have rules and regulations and will certainly furnish a report.

The court emphasized that the PM Nawaz had made quite a big offer which should be accepted further stating that Imran Khan had been repeatedly quoting that they were determined to sit in as long as their demands were not met. It seems like PTI’s chemistry has changed, they initially were the ambassadors of holding dialogue with Taliban were now are against them, the court added.

Justice Khalid Maqbool remarked, “What if Taliban attack Azadi March?” The full court bench also offered Imran Khan a specific venue to protest and sit in for 10 days. It moreover offered that no police would meddle with the protesters there. The court has ordered PTI’s lawyer to consult Imran Khan and submit the response.

Earlier, the Chief Justice of Lahore High Court had constituted a full bench to hear the petition pertaining to the long march of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf scheduled on August 14. The counsel for the petitioner, A K Dogar stated the PTI’s long march in Islamabad will result into chaos. The Azadi March will become a cause of political turmoil and create more differences between the political parties, he added. A K Dogar argued that Azadi March would also invite intervention of anti-democratic forces.

The petition requested the court to stop PTI from holding long march. Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan had previously suggested formulation of a full bench due to the sensitivity of the issue after which the LHC Chief Justice constituted a full bench.